Updated September 26, 2019
Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues
Taiwan, which officially calls itself the Republic of China
Taiwan’s Modern History
(ROC), is an island democracy of 23.6 million people
China’s Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan at the end of
located across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China.
the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The Republic of
Since January 1, 1979, U.S.-Taiwan relations have been
China, which was founded in 1912 on mainland China and
unofficial, a consequence of the Carter Administration’s
led by the Kuomintang Party (KMT), assumed control of
decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s
Taiwan in 1945, after Japan’s defeat in World War II. In
Republic of China (PRC) and break formal diplomatic ties
1949, after losing a civil war to the Communist Party of
with self-ruled Taiwan, over which the PRC claims
China, the KMT moved the seat of the ROC to Taipei, and
sovereignty. The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA, P.L. 96-8; 22
the Communists established the PRC on mainland China.
U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), enacted on April 10, 1979, provides a
legal basis for this unofficial bilateral relationship. It also
Figure 1. Taiwan
includes commitments related to Taiwan’s security.
Trump Administration Policy
After initially questioning the long-standing U.S. “one-
China” policy, President Donald J. Trump used a February
2017 telephone call with PRC President Xi Jinping to
recommit the United States to the policy, under which the
United States maintains only unofficial ties with Taiwan,
while upholding the TRA. Using language consistent with
that of previous administrations, the Trump
Administration’s December 2017 National Security
Strategy states that the United States “will maintain our
strong ties with Taiwan in accordance with our ‘One China’
policy, including our commitments under the Taiwan
Relations Act to provide for Taiwan’s legitimate defense
needs and deter coercion.”
Since 2017, the Administration has at times made
statements and taken actions that have diverged from past
practice. In May 2019, the United States hosted a meeting
between the U.S. and Taiwan National Security Advisors,

reportedly the first such meeting in the era of unofficial
Source: Graphic by CRS. Map generated by Hannah Fischer using
relations. In June 2019, the Department of Defense released
data from NGA (2017); DoS (2015); Esri (2014); DeLorme (2014).
an Indo-Pacific Strategy Report in which it referred to
Long after the retreat to Taiwan, the KMT continued to
Taiwan as a “country,” and made no reference to the U.S.
assert that the ROC government was the sole legitimate
one-China policy. On September 13, 2019, the American
government of all China. In 1971, however, United Nations
Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the non-profit corporation
General Assembly Resolution 2758 recognized the PRC’s
through which the United States conducts unofficial
representatives as “the only legitimate representatives of
relations with Taiwan, and the Taipei Economic and
China to the United Nations,” and expelled “the
Cultural Representative Office in the United States
representatives of Chiang Kai-shek,” the ROC’s president
(TECRO), the entity that acts on behalf of Taiwan in the
at the time. Taiwan has remained outside the United
United States, signed a memorandum of understanding
Nations ever since. Taiwan today claims “effective
(MOU) “regarding certain consular functions.” Although
jurisdiction” only over Taiwan, the archipelagos of Penghu,
consular relations usually imply official relations, the MOU
Kinmen, and Matsu, and some smaller islands. It also
refers not to governments but to “the authorities” that AIT
claims disputed islands in the East and South China Seas.
and TECRO represent.
On Taiwan, the KMT maintained authoritarian one-party
In September 18, 2019, testimony before the House of
rule until 1987, when it began allowing political
Representatives, however, Assistant Secretary of State for
liberalization. Taiwan held its first direct parliamentary
East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell signaled a
election in 1992 and its first direct presidential election in
commitment to the traditional framework of relations. He
1996. The May 2016 inauguration of current President Tsai
referred to Taiwan as a “non-state” entity and referenced
Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) marked
1970s-era U.S.-China communiques addressing U.S.
Taiwan’s third peaceful transfer of political power from one
relations with the PRC and Taiwan, stating, “We, certainly,
party to another. In 2016, the DPP also ended the KMT’s
want to remain inside our own commitments to the PRC.”
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Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues
previously unbroken control of the Legislative Yuan,
means and other necessary measures to protect China’s
Taiwan’s 113-member legislature.
sovereignty and territorial integrity.” On January 2, 2019,
PRC President Xi recommitted the PRC to peaceful
The DPP suffered deep losses in November 2018 local
elections. It now controls 6 of Taiwan’s 22 municipalities,
unification, but reserved the option to use force. He called
to the KMT’s 15, with one
for exploring “a Taiwan plan for ‘one country, two
in the hands of an independent.
systems,’” a reference to an arrangement under which
Taiwan is to hold presidential and legislative elections on
mainland China and Taiwan would be parts of one country,
January 11, 2020. President Tsai is running for re-election.
but maintain different political and other systems.
The KMT candidate is Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu.
U.S. Commitments Related to Taiwan
Unlike her KMT predecessor, President Tsai has not
endorsed the “1992 consensus,” under which Taiwan and
Four documents have long underpinned U.S. policy on
the PRC acknowledged “one China,” but retained their own
Taiwan: the TRA and joint communiqués concluded with
interpretations of what it meant. In March 2019, she lodged
the PRC in 1972, 1978, and 1982. In the communiqués, the
objections to Xi’s “one country-two systems” plan, saying
United States said it would recognize the PRC as the “sole
it, “unilaterally undermines the status quo, eliminates the
legal government of China”; acknowledge, if not affirm,
sovereignty of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and forces
“the Chinese position that there is but one China and
Taiwan to accept unification with China.”
Taiwan is part of China”; and maintain only unofficial
The PRC announced in June 2016 that it had suspended
relations with Taiwan. The United States does not take a
contacts with Taiwan because of President Tsai’s
position on Taiwan’s future status, but insists that it be
unwillingness to endorse the “1992 consensus.” Since
resolved peacefully without resort to threats or use of force.
Tsai’s 2016 election, the PRC has increased pressure on
Key provisions of the TRA include:
Taiwan. It has, for example, established diplomatic

relations with eight countries that previously recognized
Relations with Taiwan shall be carried out through AIT.
Taiwan: the Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the
(AIT Taipei performs many of the same functions as
Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, the
U.S. embassies elsewhere and is staffed by U.S.
Solomon Islands, and Kiribati, leaving Taiwan with 15
government personnel assigned or detailed to AIT.)
diplomatic partners. The PRC has stepped up bomber,
 It is U.S. policy “to consider any effort to determine the
fighter, and surveillance aircraft patrols around Taiwan, and
future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means,
on March 31, 2019, allowed two of its J-11 fighter jets to
including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the
cross over the median line in the Taiwan Strait for the first
peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of
time in 20 years. The PRC has also blocked Taiwan’s
grave concern to the United States.”
attendance as an observer at annual World Health Assembly
 It is U.S. policy “to maintain the capacity of the United
meetings, which Taiwan attended from 2009 to 2016.
States to resist any resort to force or other forms of
Taiwan’s Security
coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social
The United States terminated its Mutual Defense Treaty
or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.”
with Taiwan in 1980. It engages with Taiwan’s military
 The United States “will make available to Taiwan such
today through dialogues, training, and arms sales. The
defense articles and defense services in such quantity as
Trump Administration has notified Congress of proposed
may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a
major Foreign Military Sales cases for Taiwan on five
sufficient self-defense capability.”
occasions (11 cases with a combined value of about $11.76
billion). The largest case, notified on August 20, 2019, is
The TRA does not require the United States to defend
for 66 F-16C/D Block 70 aircraft and related equipment and
Taiwan, but states that is U.S. policy to maintain the
support, worth an estimated $8 billion. The PRC strongly
capacity to do so, creating “strategic ambiguity” regarding
objects to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, as well as to U.S.
the U.S. role in the event of a PRC attack on Taiwan.
Navy transits of the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Navy
The Six Assurances
conducted 7 such transits in the first 8 months of 2019.
President Ronald Reagan communicated what became
known as the “
Select Legislation in the 116th Congress
Six Assurances” to Taiwan before the
announcement of the 1982 U.S.-PRC communiqué. They
In the 116th Congress, H.Res. 273 and S.Con.Res. 13, both
include an assurance that in the negotiations with the PRC,
agreed to by their respective chambers, reaffirm the U.S.
the United States did not agree “to engage in prior
commitment to Taiwan and the TRA. The National Defense
consultations with Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan,” and
Authorization Act for FY2020 (H.R. 2500 and S. 1790), as
did not agree to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan.
passed by each chamber, would include provisions related
to Taiwan’s security.
The PRC, Taiwan, and “One China”
House-passed H.R. 3494, the Damon
Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence
The PRC maintains that mainland China and Taiwan are
Authorization Act for FY2020, would require the Director
parts of “one China” whose sovereignty cannot be divided.
of National Intelligence to submit a report on any PRC
A 2005 PRC Anti-Secession Law commits Beijing to “do
influence operations to interfere in Taiwan’s 2020 election.
its utmost with maximum sincerity to achieve a peaceful
unification” with Taiwan, but states that in the case of
Susan V. Lawrence, Specialist in Asian Affairs
Taiwan’s “secession” from China, or in a situation in which
IF10275
the PRC concludes that possibilities for peaceful unification
have been exhausted, “the state shall employ non-peaceful
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Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10275 · VERSION 39 · UPDATED